Thank you for your very supportive attitude, Lurking Grue. Or should I teach the rest of you some Finnish, and say "kiitos" [pronounce it "key toss", and you'll be understood]!

And thanks to kasp as well, for your differing opinion. The top-down viewpoint in Driftmoon is a thing that does divide opinions, but luckily we've had a lot of very encouraging comments from people who've originally suspected the view, but have been positively surprised with the game AND the view, once they've started playing. When making a game, one has to understand that it's unfortunately not possible to fill every request, but that doesn't mean that voicing out your wishes wouldn't be allowed.

Here's what our lead developer (and my husband) Ville wrote just a few weeks ago:
"Why is Driftmoon top-down?
It's top-down because I tend to get lost in games with a first person view. The perspective also makes it very easy and intuitive to control your character. We can also make all of our characters from cleverly placed sprite sheets, so it's very easy to make new characters and monsters in the game. That is a big time-saver for modders, and it's left us a lot more possibility to fine-tune other aspects of the game. If you haven't had the chance to play any top-down games before, the perspective might feel a bit weird at first, especially when looking at the screenshots. But when you actually play Driftmoon, I promise you will get used to the viewpoint in a matter of minutes - that's what I've been told by some of our preorderers."

We've given the matter a lot of thought at an earlier point, and with our very small team, we feel this is certainly the best choice. It gives us the opportunity to make a game with nice and finished contents - with a completely 3D view (ours is a semi-3D view from the top) the two of us would probably never get the game done, even with our high level of determination. Now I'm glad to say we most definitely will finish Driftmoon in the near future, and we'll do it as well as we can! I hope you'll, one day soon, be immersed in exploring Driftmoon, with a smile on your lips!

Have you ever gotten lost in a dark dungeon, and don't know which way you came in?

In celebration of Halloween, Driftmoon now holds a new mystery monster. I can't reveal exactly who it is yet, but you might have met someone resembling him in your childhood nightmares. Spooky?

Thinking of those dark tunnels that I mentioned, what could provide useful (and slightly ridiculous) about this monster, are his shoes, the Light Boots! If you manage to get them to yourself, and decide to wear them, your footprints will glow (they fade after 2 minutes). So using them, you can always see where you came from, and where you've already been. Funny as they are, they do come in handy, especially for those of us with a tendency to get lost!

Originally Posted by anne.monkkonen
Thinking of those dark tunnels that I mentioned, what could provide useful (and slightly ridiculous) about this monster, are his shoes, the Light Boots! If you manage to get them to yourself, and decide to wear them, your footprints will glow (they fade after 2 minutes). So using them, you can always see where you came from, and where you've already been. Funny as they are, they do come in handy, especially for those of us with a tendency to get lost!

That's a really cool idea, and something I haven't seen before. Very nice, I'm starting to get interested

Does the game have big open world or seperate closed areas? Is it an "explorers" game? Looking at the pics the first thought was ultima.

-- “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
"Those who dont read history are destined to repeat it."– Edmund Burke

Originally Posted by zakhal
Does the game have big open world or seperate closed areas? Is it an "explorers" game? Looking at the pics the first thought was ultima.

I'd say Driftmoon is something in between the two. The world of Driftmoon is not just one big area, but rather a whole, which includes both larger areas, and small ones. There is quite a lot of exploration in Driftmoon, and there's plenty to find and discover. We want to give you interesting, varying, nonrepetitive, and nonrandom content, so that you'll have fun playing Driftmoon!

Originally Posted by skavenhorde
I want to know what this dang monster is.

Childhood nightmares…..there's the boogy man, monster under the bed/in the closet and freaking clowns. There is nothing on this Earth that is scarier than a clown.

You might (or might not) be onto something there, but they do say the rat is an intelligent animal. Lets tempt you some more: More important than what our mystery monster is now, is what he once was.

But don't loose your sleep over this, you'll only be able to understand it, once you get your hands on the new Alpha. So a little bit of patience is still required.

While this title interests me, if you would like me to review it I'd prefer not to look at it until late beta. That way I can give a fair review (as I did with FK) without having to consider all the issues earlier builds can have. I played FK 3 times with the final one being the pre-release build. That way I could write reasonably accurately about the game initial buyers would get. You'll likely get some additional material from people like Skav as well since we want to give Indies the best coverage we can!!

Originally Posted by blackcanopus
Driftmoon reminds me of Mage Slayer (Raven/Gt Interactive). It was one of my favorite games which probably no one played. Looking forward to it.

And the feeling of getting lost in the darkness sounds awesome.

I remember that game, also was released at the same time was Take No Prisoners which had a similar look and playstyle. Unfortunately both met with mediocre reviews so I hope Driftmoon turns out better.

Thanks for the comments again! And I agree, Corwin. If you're going to review Driftmoon (which would be great of course!), it might be better to wait just a little while longer to play it for the first time. Although I do believe there will be very little changes to the beginning 4-6 hours of the game after our next Alpha. But still, a review is a review.

There's a news post about this in the RPGWatch front page right now, but here's another link to our new video for you. It's just a test video (not a trailer certainly), but it'll give you a peek at one of the new monsters, and two of the various recipes you can use in Driftmoon to craft different items: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature…&v=dRYIkHkXmMs

Originally Posted by bit_abuser
Looking forward to this, very promising.

Thanks bit_abuser!

Here's another little update to share with you:
We're just adding some finishing touches to one rather important part of the Driftmoon plot. In our earlier alpha's, the Gems of the Pendant couldn't be used separately, until the very end of the game. Well, starting from the next Alpha, you don't just discover the Magical Gems of the Pendant of Resurrection in carefully hidden and guarded places, you can also do something really cool with the gems! Unfortunately I'm not at liberty to reveal more just yet…

Originally Posted by jbunniii
This game looks great! I'll leave the beta testing to others as I have quite a backlog of games to play, but I will look forward to playing the released version.

Thanks jbunniii!

I wanted to give you a little taste of Driftmoon again. This is just a little side dish compared to the main meal, but here's a book written by Hogpuff the Brave. He is the most famous (and definitely THE vainest) adventurer in Driftmoon:

———-

The Art of Arr!
by Hogpuff the Brave
Follow in the glorious footsteps of Hogpuff the Brave, and your chances for success will multiply!

For strength and honor:
* Carefully select the armor and weaponry you wield. I once forgot I had looted the Blessed Sword of Drakine the Hero from a tomb, and was only using a common soldier's dagger against the Rolling Rollo Horde. Boy, was I surprised when I discovered I had a better sword in my backpack! (Though, as I soon learned, standing up against a rollo is not wise even if you're wielding the Blessed Sword of Drakine. You're better of using your two fast feet.)

* Develop your battle talents, and use them wisely! Don't forget to use any special moves you may have learned. Keeping a supply of mana potions in your backpack allows you to fill up your powers in a flash!

* Always try to talk your way out of a fight, you might even make a friend! I was once able to talk the Mad Mana Mine out of exploding, and it didn't even understand human language, only ticking!

* If you do end up fighting - and winning your fight - the battleground may occasionally contain useful weapons and other artifacts, which have not been damaged in the fight, and are still perfectly usable. We professionals call this "LOOT".

My strategies in tight spots:
* A wise warrior knows when to turn back and gather his strength. A dead warrior is not a good warrior. (Although that phrase obviously ignores some fairly skilled undead skeletons.)

* For a true champion like me, time seems to come to a halt when facing a life-threatening situation, giving me the possibility to carefully manouver my moves. In addition to going with the obvious health potion that restores your health, you can sometimes benefit from a mana potion, which brings you new defensive opportunities: The king of defensive moves is the Tower Shield, which allows you to completely block a number of attacks. A Shield Bash, which may stun your opponents, might also come in handy. And to top it all, I always keep with me a supply of Reverse Ooz powder. A pinch of that stuff, and you'll outrun anything!

* Pick your enemies from a safe distance with a bow, and let your friends take all the hits. Your friends will love when you fire the triple crossbow at their backs. And just when your enemies and friends are exhausted, go in to get all the glory!

* An intelligent adventurer always carries a good selection of food with him, and gathers more nutrition during his adventures. A storage of healthy food is essential for the natural healing process. It is also wise to carry with you some evil berry seeds. You can plant them in any location, and grow yourself food, when you've exhausted your own stash. Remember that the berries only grow when the person who planted them is near them - they won't grow if you leave the area completely.

I hope this has been useful to you. Remember that this information comes with absolutely NO WARRANTY!

———-

There you have it. Essential tactical information directly from the amazingly muscular (and horribly hairy) hand of Hogpuff the Brave.